Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Post-Pax Games Rundown

Ok, it's a few days later, and we've had some time to defrag, and I thought I might assemble a blog post with some of the games I saw but didn't comment on in the cast. Add your own in the comments!

Vidya Games

Endless Legend/Dungeon of the Endless - Kevin and I saw this guy demoing what looked like an interesting RTS game, but he was mid-interview with some guy with more impressive press credentials. I dug around online, and its the same company that did Endless Space (duh), so it'll probably be awesome. Also of note - this company encourages fan participation in development, so you can influence where they go with the game. I'll buy this when it comes out, no waiting for sales.

Gods Will be Watching - ethical puzzler. You and your crew are stranded, and you have to survive. The handout from their booth says "Is eating your partners the best choice?". I'll wait for this to go on a deep discount Steam Sale, and even then only if someone recommends it.

Gods Will Be Watching

Lots more after the jump...

Invisible Inc

Invisible Inc - Turn Based Monaco, or Stealth XCom - If you like theft and turn based tactics, this looks great, and my god, that art style. I love Don't Starve, by the same folks, so Kevin and I snap-bought the alpha, and after trying it last night, it's worth it.

Hand of Fate - Collectible Card Game plus Brawler. That sounds sooo good. But when pressed, the guy at the booth confirmed that there is a clear boundary between card land and brawl land, which sort of ruins it for me. Like the previous, I'll need a push to try this, even if it is on sale.

Out There

Out There - mobile space sim - stand out hit of the indie mega booth for me. Super challenging game, sort of like FTL, it's dirt cheap and available on iOs and Android. Get it already.

Stronghold Crusader II - Build a castle, yay! These games are fun, and this one looks to continue that tradition. Nothing really noteworthy though - the main feature the guy cited as far as what improved from the previous iteration was that horse archers aren't OP any more. Meh.

War of the Vikings - Sword simulator. The booth guy oversold it as similar to Mount and Blade. Maybe I'm weird, but what I like about Mount and Blade is the management, and combat is the glue. From what I can tell, there is no management aspect in this game. It looks like Chivalry, but with less dismembery goodness. I might buy on Steam sale.

Evolve - Godzilla vs Team Fortress. Check out their booth babe to the right. You play as either Godzilla, or one of the FPS classes fighting it.

Max Gentlemen - Dapper hat jumping. This was one of the goofier examples. There is no way I'm buying this, but I'm glad it exists.

This weird game about slapping gentlemen for Kinect - Well, I messed this up. This was the most ridiculous game, and I don't know the name. Picture two people, standing in front of a connect, making slapping motions, while distinguished gentlemen mirror those actions in their fisticuffs. Magnificent.

This War of Mine - Rust meets the real world - I didn't play much of this, but I like the concept. You manage a team of refugees in a war zone, helping them to survive. Much of the gameplay was derived from the stories of survivors of wars.

Board/Card Games

Minion the Card Game - Magic the Gathering, with tweaks. This game didn't quite do enough to differentiate itself from the comparison to Magic or Hearthstone. They're still early though, so perhaps they can find a formula that works.

Terra Mystica - Settlers of Catan, now with 10x the rules. It took us over an hour to get through the rule book enough to know what we were trying to do. Don't get me wrong, the game was awesome, and super deep, but you gotta make sure everyone involved knows the price for entry. Snapshot of the game in action to the left, with its daunting supply of wooden doohickies.

Jungle Speed - This goofy little game filled in some brainless time after the hangover from Booze Cube wore off, but before I reached full functionality. Made me feel much dumber than usual.

All the goodies in the Attack the Darkness box

Attack the Darkness - not quite Diet Dungeons and Dragons. More like the Pepsi One of hardcore role playing games. Set up is faster - it's all cards, and randomized monsters. But the same tactical crunchiness of DnD is there. Some of the classes feel rough around the edges, or downright useless, depending on the encounter. Watch this video to understand the name. I bought two, but I'm not sure that was the right move. The main game mechanic is mixing your resource/adjective cards with power/verb cards - tactical mad libs.

What games did you try? Jump in the comments section and tell me what I missed.